As components wear they experience different wear patterns. When two surfaces rub against each other, they first experience sliding wear and then transition into adhesive wear. Adhesive wear is characterized by the two components temporarily binding together as they slide past each other, requiring more effort to achieve the same motion. This wear is undesirable and can lead to components becoming completely stuck. As an example, variable turbine geometry (VTG) turbocharger assembly wears the vane may begin to stick or become complete stuck. The result of vanes sticking is a change in power requirements for the actuator and in a more developed wear case the VTG assembly cannot return to the initial position using only a spring return mechanism. Heretofore, the only way for a customer to determine if a VTG assembly is experiencing vane sticking is to wait until critical failure, when the vanes are completely stuck and an electronic control unit (ECU), connected to the actuator, throws an error indicating to the customer that the VTG assembly has failed. Heretofore, the only way for a technician to confirm if the VTG assembly is experiencing vane sticking is to manually cycle the VTG.